1. These guidelines are in place for the safety of the personnel and animals in the facility and the environment at large and have been reviewed and endorsed by the IACUC and Bio- Safety Committee as well as Risk Management. It is YOUR responsibility to adhere to these guidelines. What to do when working with BSLII and other Hazardous Materials in the Animal Area

2. Summary of BSLII Procedures Step One: Before you order animals All BSLII Protocols will be accompanied by a completed “Checklist and Guidelines for Bio-hazardous Projects” You can schedule the necessary staff training with your area Supervisor Animals cannot be ordered until these forms are complete and training done.

3. Step Two: Once Animals are Ordered and Housed A copy of the protocol and these forms as well has an MSDS sheet if needed will be in the room that the protocol is being used. Any cage that is “ACTIVE” (currently being exposed and or treated using the agent listed in the BSLII protocol) will be clearly marked using the labels provided. This label is to include the date and protocol# and agent being used. It is the responsibility of the PI to inform the Supervisor by email (harriske@musc.edu) that there are active BSLII animals in the room and emailed again once the animals are “INACTIVE”.harriske@musc.edu Procedures for handling the animals, cages and waste will be outlined in the ”Checklist” and the protocol but at the minimum we will handle as BSLII as outlined in Standard Husbandry Procedures for BSLII as follows:

4. Standard Husbandry Procedures for BSLII as follows: All personnel working in the animal rooms must wear disposable lab coats, head covers, face masks with shields and foot covers. Persons handling the cages or animals must also wear latex or vinyl gloves. All rooms have negative air pressure to the hallway. Rodent cages with infectious agents need to be capable either of being sanitized by autoclaving or chemical disinfection or else they must be disposable. If chemical disinfection is used, then it should be a 10% chlorine bleach solution (1 part bleach + 9 parts water) or other approved disinfectant. Cages with bedding will be sprayed until saturated and then a wait period of at least 15 minutes should be taken before dumping bedding. Cages should be transported to the cagewash room only after disinfection is completed. In facilities with HEPA filtered dumping stations, the cages may be transported to cage wash, dumped and then put into the cage washer, instead of using the disinfection process described above for bedding. Bedding may either be incinerated or autoclaved and dumped. (STB 7 th Floor has a HEPA Dump station) Rabbit cages with non-contact bedding should have the same procedure applied as per the description above for chemical disinfection before having the pans dumped. Large animals may have the feces and urine washed down the drain. Projects involving radiation hazards will not be handled by DLAR / VMU personnel while they are radioactive. All animal rooms on the VA 7 th floor will be made negative in the event that a BSLII project may be housed in that room.

5. How to Mark a Cage: Place the sticker on the cage card to identify the individual cage of animals as being “ACTIVE” BSLII Stickers are available from the area Supervisor.

6. Identifying Agent in Active Use: Once a small sticker has been placed on the cage card, a tag which will include the protocol#, date, agent being used and initial of PI or designated representative. Tags are available from the area Supervisor

7. Door Signage: Once all the cages have been identified and properly labeled you need to put signage up on the animal room door that will identify this room as containing animals on an ACTIVE BSLII protocol. Signs are available from your area Supervisor.

8. Clean Up: Leave cages in the room Bag cages in autoclavable biohazard bags Use the approved Bleach solution (or other specified decontaminate) to decontaminate prior to bagging cages and removal from room. This product will be available in the room at all times during ACTIVE BSLII status.

9. PPE: Use and wear ALL PPE as outlined in the Standard Husbandry Procedures for BSLII These items, including eye shield masks, are available in the room or from the area Supervisor

10. Questions???? Contact: Krista Harris – VA Animal Facility Supervisor 843-452-3181 harriske@musc.edu harriske@musc.edu Kathy Laber, DVM – Veterinary Medical Officer 843-876- 5206 laberlk@musc.edulaberlk@musc.edu